The Myst comic book, the Book of the Black Ships, falls in the Myst story grand in between the first Myst novel and the Myst CD-ROM. It was supposed to be a 4-part miniseries, but, in the end, due to lack of success, only the first comic was released. Possibly this could be due to the fact that this was the one part of this narrative venture in which the Millers did not have any direct involvement. Instead they agreed to let another team (Lovern Kindzierski, Chris Ulm and Doug Wheatley ) work with their characters. This team also created an unofficial comic prequel, Myst: Passages, without the support or approval of the Millers. Their absence shows in the comic’s lower level of narrative quality when compared with the CD-ROMs and the novels. This is the narrative low point of the story grand of Myst. The quality and consideration found in the CD-ROMs and novels is sorely lacking here.
As I mentioned earlier, the line that is echoed at the end of the Book of Atrus and the beginning of the Myst CD-ROM illustrates that there are many events that occur in the story grand between these two points. It seems rather appropriate, that while this comic attempts to flesh out this part of the story grand, it ends up incomplete and therefore, leaves the Mysterious events unexplained and only to be discovered by a reader’s sleuthing in the CD-ROM Myst. This comic is the beginning of the tale of Atrus, Catherine and their two sons Achenar and Sirrus. Mainly, it is an attempt to show how the sons end up evil but it does so in such an unrealistic fashion that it pales in comparison to the rest of the story grand of Myst. In two fleeting pages, it summarizes three novels worth of narrative and then plunges headlong into the disgruntled sons’ adventures. There is little explanation for why these two boys are so unhappy other than seemingly stern father. Sirrus and Achenar go off to rendezvous with the Black Ships (again, no explanation as to why or who these people are on the Black Ships. They’re just evil, cause they are some alien form of pirates who steal and have slaves). Over the course of three pages we see the sons become evil like the pirates with whom they are traveling (no explanation yet again, they just start being amazingly cruel) and they hatch a plan to trap their father and become gods over all the ages (echoing Gehn’s god-fixation and desire to rule all). Atrus and Catherine are basically nonentities, only appearing to reprimand the boys when they return. The boys then steal a book (unbeknownst to Atrus) and the last panel of the comic shows Achenar offering the book to the leader of the Black Ships: end of book one. Comic book two (which is never produced) is hinted at in the last words, “Next: Betrayal,” so we can guess that the sons are going to betray their father soon.
The prequel comic, Myst: Passages, is an unofficial part of the Myst story grand as it was an unauthorized addition. It shows Atrus writing in his journal, recounting a legend of the creation of the Art of writing linking books. So while the story covered in this comic is not really a part of the story grand, and is actually inconsistent with it, it relates a legend from this world.
The Myst V Comic by Penny Arcade gives a brief two-page lead up to the Myst V: End of Ages game. This serves as a brief re-introduction in the overall themes of Myst as well as a little teaser for the next storyline.
Thus ends this thread in the story grand of Myst. While being the least utilized medium in the story grand, it is related through comics that give us some new narrative issues to discuss in relationship with the novels and CD-ROMs. With this comic, setting comes into play a little more, the theme from the story grand is almost totally lost (other than some odd reversals about strained father-son relationships) and the plot is such a rushed mishmash that the characters have little or no substance. The webcomic serves more as a poetic introduction to Myst V: End of Ages. As with the Myst novels, I believe that the narrative elements of these comics has less to do with the medium itself, and more to do with the authors’ choices within this medium. A medium with hybrid potential much more fully realized in the Sandman series.